WASHINGTON, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Donald Trump Jr., the son of U.S. President Donald Trump, on Tuesday released email records related to his meeting with a Russian lawyer last year, adding suspicion that the Trump campaign had colluded with Russia during the election.
Trump Jr. published the email records in four scanned documents on Twitter, saying "in order to be totally transparent, I am releasing the entire email chain of my emails with Rob Goldstone about the meeting on June 9, 2016."
The record started with an email exchange on June 6 between Goldstone, a music publicist, and Trump Jr. The message was titled "Russia-Clinton-private and confidential."
In the email, Goldstone asked Trump Jr. when he was free to speak to someone "about this Hillary info," to which Trump Jr. said "I love it."
Goldstone then asked when Trump Jr. would meet with a "Russian government attorney," who represents a businessman with links to the Russian government and possesses "official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealing with Russia and would be very useful" to Trump.
In later exchanges, the two men eventually hammered out the details of the June 9 meeting that would include Trump Jr., Goldstone, then Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.
In an interview with U.S. media on Tuesday, Veselnitskaya denied any links with the Russian government and said she didn't have any damaging information on Hillary.
Trump Jr. reportedly released the emails after the New York Times claimed to have obtained them.
Trump has no knowledge of the meeting until days ago, according to the White House, while a spokesperson for Vice President Mike Pence stressed that the meeting took place before Pence was tapped as Trump's running mate.
At a daily press briefing, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders declined to answer any questions related to the emails, but read a statement from Trump saying that Trump Jr. was a man "of high quality" and that he applauded his son's transparency.
Trump later tweeted that his son "is a great person who loves our country!"
Critics of the Trump administration said the emails were hard proof that Trump Jr. was knowingly seeking the assistance of the Russian government to hurt the Hillary campaign, and the action constitutes collusion with the Russian government, which Trump has repeatedly denied.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said everyone involved in the meeting should be "immediately summoned" to testify under oath in front of Congress.
"The American people face a White House riddled with shadowy Russian connections and desperate to hide the truth," she said.
Even some Republicans are finding the emails hard to defend. Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters that "anytime you're in a campaign and you get an offer from a foreign government to help your campaign, the answer is no."
Robert Mueller, a special counsel tasked with probing possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, reportedly will look into the emails and the meeting between Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer.
According to U.S. media, the unraveling events have greatly frustrated Trump, who has been defiant that his campaign has no wrongdoing and he is the subject of a "political witch hunt."
A shakeup in the White House is also said to be imminent as its top leadership seeks to stop damaging information from being leaked to the press.
The controversy around the emails and the meeting between Trump Jr. and the Russian lawyer is the latest episode in a long running battle between the Trump administration and its opponents over whether the Trump campaign had colluded with the Russian government during last year's race for the White House.
